Porn Has Effect on Teens' Sexual Behavior

Action Points

Note that this online survey of Dutch teens revealed the consumption of sexually explicit materials was weakly associated with sexually adventurous behaviors.

Be aware that, as a voluntary survey, the study may be significantly impacted by selection bias.

Exposure to sexually explicit materials is one small-to-moderate factor affecting sexual behavior in teens and young adults, researchers from the Netherlands reported.

In a cross-sectional study of Dutch youths polled online, researchers found that exposure to sexually explicit materials was significantly associated with what they categorized as adventurous sex, transactional sex, and partner experience, reported Gert Martin Hald, PhD, of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, and colleagues.

However, although sexually explicit materials were a significant contributor -- accounting for as much as 0.3% to 4% of differences in sexual behaviors -- additional variants such as sensation seeking, sexual assertiveness, and social relationships impact sexual behavior similarly, they wrote online in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.

"Our data suggest that other factors such as personal dispositions -- specifically sexual sensation seeking -- rather than consumption of sexually explicit material (SEM) may play a more important role in a range of sexual behaviors of adolescents and young adults, and that the effects of sexually explicit media on sexual behaviors in reality need to be considered in conjunction with such factors," Hald said in a press release.

Of 4,600 participants ages 15 to 25 who were recruited into the online survey, 88.2% of young men and 44.8% of young women reported having used sexually explicit materials in the prior 12 months. Young men were significantly more likely than young women to report consuming hardcore material online, in video, or print. Young women were significantly more likely than young men to report watching soft core material on television, the study said.

The authors defined "adventurous sex" as involving threesomes and same-gender partners, and "transactional sex" as sex involving the exchange of money. "Partner experience" included age of sexual initiation, experience with one-night stands, and number of lifetime partners.

"These findings contribute novel information to the ongoing debates on the role of SEM consumption in sexual behaviors and risk," the authors wrote, "and provide appropriate guidance to policymakers and program developers concerned with sexual education and sexual health promotion for young people."

The authors reported that young people's consumption of sexually explicit material was significantly associated with adventurous sex and transactional sex, over and above control variables which included socio-demographic characteristics, sexual dispositions, aspects of participants' social relationships, and media use. However, although male participants' sexually explicit material consumption was not significantly associated with partner experience over and above control variables, a significant association between the two was found for women.

The study was limited by its self-selected sample and cross-sectional design, the authors wrote. It requires cross-cultural validation, they said, especially in countries with sexual attitudes that differ from sexuality in the Netherlands.

Commenting about the research, Susan Tortolero, PhD, of the University of Texas in Houston, echoed those observations about the design limitations.

The study "is biased in some ways because as you can imagine those who are going to answer a survey online and who are online about sex are probably more likely to be engaged in different types of sexual behaviors," she told MedPage Today.

But sexually explicit materials and exposure to pornography seem to be less a factor than previously thought, Tortolero said. Other factors are also very important, she noted, such as family, poverty, education, the role of friends, sexual initiation, and different types of sex behaviors, as evidenced by the Dutch study.

"So it really confirms that it's not one thing, it's not just exposure to pornography or sexually explicit materials," she said. "It really is the entire environment that young people live in."

The authors concluded that "the effects of [sexually explicit material] consumption are best considered in conjunction with other relevant factors to more appropriately appraise the influence of [sexually explicit material] consumption on sexual behavior."

The study was funded by the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development.

Reviewed by F. Perry Wilson, MD, MSCE Instructor of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Dorothy Caputo, MA, BSN, RN, Nurse Planner

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